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ETHNOPORNOGRAPHY: SEXUALITY, COLONIALISM, AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL KNOWING

Date Submitted:

2013-08-28

Announcement ID:

206187

CALL FOR PAPERS

ETHNOPORNOGRAPHY: SEXUALITY, COLONIALISM, AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL KNOWING

We are currently seeking scholarly contributions for a forthcoming edited
collection titled Ethnopornography: Sexuality, Colonialism, and
Anthropological Knowing, which will be submitted to a university press in
2014. We already have a number of contributors whose work focuses on some aspect of the "ethnopornographic gaze" in relation to colonialism, and are looking for a few more contributors, whose work might focus on Africa, Asia, the Middle East, native North America, Papua New Guinea, the Amazon, or other colonial contexts (though we have sufficient contributions about Latin America, outside of the Amazon).

This is a project that was initiated by the late Neil L. Whitehead
(Madison-Wisconsin, Anthropology) and Pete Sigal (Duke University,
History), and is now being edited by Pete Sigal, Zeb Tortorici (New York
University, Spanish and Portuguese), and Erika Robb Larkins (University of
Oklahoma, Anthropology).

As conceived in our introduction to the volume, our usage of the term
"ethnopornography" refers to the synergy of sexuality and violence in the
cultural process of colonialist observation and exploitation. We argue
that ethnopornography is key to the legacy in the ethnographic gaze, as
practiced not only by professional anthropologists and ethnographers but
also by other cultural commentators (including colonists, travelers,
medical practitioners, and intellectuals). We term such an epistemological
regime "ethnopornographic" not because of the mere fact that the exposed bodies of (colonized/desired) others are being represented, but rather for the way in which such representations circulated in voyeuristic cycles of gazing at and purporting to know the intimate (or the "authentic"). The very notion of "ethnopornography" defies simple definition as the term itself is an attempt to call attention to the multiple histories and positionalities present in the history of colonial relationships, which share a particular ethnological aesthetic and style. It is our goal to map out what this particular aesthetic is, how it is imbued with multidirectional power relations, and what its implications are in the
broader field of cultural discourse about the "other" vis-à-vis gender,
ethnicity, language, and species.

In short, we are looking for contributors whose work fits the themes that
we raise in this collection, and who are keen on engaging theories of
(colonial) viewing, spectatorship, and corporealities in their work.
Rather than simply include essays that focus on the intersections of
bodies, sexualities, and colonialism, we are, in particular, seeking
contributions that will critically think through the theoretical and very
real implications of "ethnopornography" in historical, anthropological,
and literary production.

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: SEPTEMBER 1, 2013

Those interested should email a 250-500 word abstract and a recent CV,
including contact information, by September 1, 2013 to: Pete Sigal
(psigal@duke.edu), Zeb Tortorici (zt3@nyu.edu), and Erika Larkins
(erikalarkins@ou.edu).

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